Toshiba BDX2500 Blu-ray Disc Player

3 Comments

1. Michael says:

   July 6, 2010 at 3:12 pm

   waited months for this to come on the market. finally available last week. bought one for my sweetie.

   context: she has a toshiba 32in lcd 720p hdtv and fios hdtv box. i have a sony s370 blu-ray player, sony a/v receiver, vudu bx100 hd streaming/download box, and dish vip411k hdtv satellite box with external hard disk dvr, output through an akai 42in plasma 1080i hdtv monitor and 7.1 sony speakers. we both have 10mbps (actual 8mbps) verizon fios internet connections.

   price: keeps dropping. worth shopping.

   appearance: excellent.

   setup: easy for the player in general, but a bit fussy for online streaming services. must establish external accounts and link/activate player with pc online at same time. steps, sequence, and codes differ for each service. no hdmi cable included, so bring your own.

   blu-ray: tested with parts of iron man and all of crazy heart. faster startup than sony s350, and maybe faster than the s370. excellent reproduction, as expected.

   internet: toshiba says you must use only their $50 usb adapter if you want a wireless connection. that sucks. when are manufacturers going to stop the proprietary hardware b.s. they hope to drive related product sales? nice try. instead we moved her wireless cable modem nearby, ran a wired connection to the player, and added a generic fifteen dollar usb wireless adapter to the pc. done. did not try a generic usb wireless adapter on the player, so maybe someone else can post that.

   vudu: added device to my existing vudu account. compared to the dedicated vudu bx100 hd box running amadeus software, player-based (720p?) hd streaming with 5.1 surround sound was comparable/excellent. same familiar menus except for first screen. vudu even gives you a one-time first movie credit. nice. did not try streaming (1080p?) hdx because vudu brazil public beta test sofware on the vudu 100 hd box caused frequent (extremely irritating) buffering stops. actual 8mbps connection was too slow. vudu website now says you need at least 9mbps (actual) for hdx stream. vudu bx100 performance remains excellent.

   netflix: added device to my existing netflix account. used this for first time on other than pc to stream free films from instant queue. such a deal. image quality seems comparable to vudu (720p?) hd streaming. appears we were also getting surround sound, although was not really paying attention to that. fastforward/backward menu bar is same as for streaming through my toshiba laptop, but for some reason different from streaming through my sony s370 player. definitely prefer the toshiba version with incremental image preview boxes rather than non-visual timeline readout.

   pandora: when accessed directly, you must enter your username/password digit-by-digit every time using the player remote. a real pain. when accessed via vudu, you initially enter and store your username/password and instantly logon thereafter. slick. just like with the vudu box. much easier to access via vudu.

   remote: control of internet content appears inconsistent from service to service. frustrating. vudu cursor movement more flexible with toshiba remote than with dedicated vudu remote on their box. would be good to have a key guide for each service.

   rated overall at four of five stars primarily because of the proprietary usb wireless adapter thing.

   have fun …

   july 5, 2010 addendum: we’ve now watched several films in blu-ray, dvd, vudu streaming, and netflix streaming formats. no static or freeze problems as described by others. can’t explain based on our experience. i just ordered two more bdx2500s since the amazon price dropped to $128, one for my office toshiba 32in 720p lcd tv, and another for a friend. a real deal with free ship + no tax. beware of tigerdirect price guarantee … they only give you the overcharge in their own funny money for your next order. bestbuy gives you real money credit back on your charge card.
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. bugle says:

   July 6, 2010 at 4:24 pm

   On paper this player seems perfect, Blu-ray and multiple streaming services for under $150. That’s why I was so disappointed when I purchased and had to return this unit not once but twice. Essentially there is some kind of recurring problem that causes intermittent “static” whenever it is on. The screen would show “snow”(similar to old analog TVs) and the speakers would make a loud crackle every 30 seconds or so. This would actually happen when nothing was playing and the player was just in the main menu screen, so clearly it’s not a Blu-ray or streaming problem. The problem would get worse the longer the player was on, so I suspect it is heat-related. When it wasn’t in static mode, picture and sounds looked great.

   I purchased this unit twice from two different stores and had to return them both for the same problems. It’s not my TV or cabling as the same setup works fine with a Samsung player I have. Bottom line, I wanted to love this player but it was consistently unwatchable.
   Rating: 1 / 5
3. Timothy J Walburg says:

   July 6, 2010 at 6:00 pm

   I am completely unimpressed. This is my first Blu Ray player and I would have to say that the Toshiba player is the worst. I have a Toshiba Regza 42 inch TV and for my first Blu Ray player I thought that I would get the same for compatibility and the price was right. My first player froze on every movie we watched. 1 Blu Ray and two DVD’s. I returned it to Best Buy where I bought it and got a replacement. The next night it froze during ‘Toy Story’ so this one is going back too.

   The freezing issue is not addressed much in Blu Ray forums and not at all with the Toshiba… probably because it’s too new. Now I’m gun shy about picking another brand.

   So in conclusion I’m saying Caveat Emptor with Toshiba.
   Rating: 1 / 5